RAMALLAH, March 9 - A recent poll conducted by tbe Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre finds that most Palestinians (69%) support the Palestinian leadership's move to appeal to the International Criminal Court, even in the face of Israel's resulting economic sanctions.

Another 20.5% said they would prefer Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to backtrack and rescind the court appeal.

On January 8, the international court accepted the accession of the state of Palestine, to go into effect on April 1. The step was made possible through a series of moves adopted by the Palestinian leadership to internationalize the ongoing crisis between Palestinians and Israel, which occupies the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In response, Israel refused to transfer $254 million in taxes it had collected on behalf of the interim Palestinian government. To cover salaries for approximately one-fourth of the entire workforce, the Palestinian Authority has slashed them by 40 percent and is taking out bank loans to cover the rest.

The poll of 1,200 people, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percent is available online at http://www.jmcc.org/documentsandmaps.aspx?id=868 in both English and Arabic.